Six years ago, I met the most beautiful 21 year old girl I had ever seen. Introduced as the date of a friend of mine, I quickly realized that she wasn’t “with” him and I began to move in for the kill!
Ashlee and I met while home on leave from Iraq in November 2006. I was home for two weeks, we went out one night, didn’t exchange numbers, email addresses, or even myspace contacts. (remember that?) However, nine months later I returned home with her still on my heart and mind.
We were married in February 2008, and she celebrated a new birth in August of that same year! During a missions conference at Whitfield Baptist Church, sitting in Pastor Wayne Cofield’s office, my wife accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior!
I look back now, four years later, and cannot deny the grace of God in the lives of the Underwood family! There are so many other scenarios that could have played out, but God in His love and mercy has used the last five years Ashlee and I have been together as a picture of His marvelous grace!
I am so truly blessed to be married to the most beautiful, loving, caring, Christ-honoring mother, wife, and best friend in the world! Today I want to wish my bride a happy birthday! I cannot wait to see where the Lord takes our family in the next five years, and how He uses my wife for the furtherance of the gospel into all the world!
Happy birthday Ashlee! I love you.
Stephen Underwood
Acts 20:24
www.stephenunderwood.net
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